Mark Mustio slings too much slime even for the Post Gazette

It pains me to say nice things about the Post-Gazette, but I have to give credit where it’s due. In an unprecedented move, the Post-Gazette did something principled and rescinded their endorsement of Mark Mustio for the State Senate.

Mustio has gone pretty low in this campaign, but he has gotten more and more desperate as of late and has not-so-subtly played the race card.

Mr. Mustio went further when he superimposed an image of the flag of India behind a photo of Mr. Raja in earlier advertisements and fliers. Although born in India, Mr. Raja — like millions of immigrants before him — came to this country as a young man, made it his home by becoming a U.S. citizen and founded a successful business here. He also earned master’s degrees at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Mustio followed that up by crossing a line this week with an insidious mailing aimed at stirring up prejudices about Mr. Raja’s foreign birth. Even though Mr. Raja is known simply as Raja or D. Raja in his business dealings, personal life and politics, Mr. Mustio displayed prominently his opponent’s full given name –Dakshinamurthy — in a campaign flier.

We don’t buy Mr. Mustio’s explanation that he used the long name because it appears on lawsuits in which Mr. Raja was involved. The subtext is clear. In fact, Mr. Mustio makes it even clearer in his newest, so-called positive television ad in which the narrator intones, “Mark Mustio. He’s one of us, not a politician.”

I live in the 37th District, and I’ve been getting these mailers for weeks. I glance at them and largely ignore them, but Mustio sent out the first piece of mail that has ever made me angry.

Dakshinamurty? Seriously? Why didn’t Mustio just put DIRTY FOREIGNER with a big arrow pointing to Raja’s head all superimposed on the logo of a 7-11? That may actually have been more subtle.

With no Democrat in the race for the 37th, I can’t say I’m surprised at the P-G’s endorsement of Mark Mustio. He voted for the pay raise, he’s in bed with the unions, and opposes liquor store privatization. He’s as close as they’re going to get to a Democrat in this race which makes him the second perfect “Republican” that the Post-Gazette has endorsed this election cycle. I blogged about the other one here. It’s nice to know that there’s a line that even the Post-Gazette thinks shouldn’t be crossed.